Biz Break: More changes at Apple and a groundbreaking valley IPO

Members of the public enter a new Apple store during the official opening in Beijing's Wangfujing shopping district in this October 20, 2012, file photo. Shares of Apple Inc slid almost 4 percent on Wednesday to a five-month low, outpacing the U.S. stock market's post-U.S. election losses, and slipping into bearish territory. REUTERS/David Gray/Files

Today: Apple (AAPL) keeps cleaning house in the department in charge of its mapping app while announcing launch of new iMac. Also: San Mateo's SolarCity will be first solar installer to go public, Wall Street dips.

Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that Richard Williamson, an Apple veteran who worked for Steve Jobs at NeXT, the computer company the former Apple CEO founded in between his stints running the company he cofounded. Williamson shared a NeXT history with his former boss, Scott Forstall, the head of mobile software at Apple who was forced out in an executive shake-up after reportedly refusing to sign on to an apology for the app's issues.

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CEO Tim Cook ended up sending out an apology for Apple's Maps app, which replaced Google's (GOOG) popular app in the latest update of Apple's mobile operating system, to the chagrin of users. After Forstall was forced out, Apple design guru Eddy Cue was put in charge of the department, and was the executive who axed Williamson, anonymous sources told Bloomberg. The firing took place just before the Thanksgiving holiday, according to AllThingsD.

Cue will replace Williamson in an effort to put his own leadership team in charge of mobile software while attempting to fix the maps on the fly, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, Apple continues to work on pushing out the new products it announced last month. With the iPad Mini and fourth-generation iPads released, next up are the company's all-in-one desktop models, the iMacs.

Apple announced Tuesday morning that the smaller iMac, which it originally said would be released in November, will make that deadline by a whisker when it is released on Friday, the last day of the month.

The 21.5-inch iMac will start at $1,299 and feature the company's new Fusion Drive, which combines a flash drive and standard hard drive. The larger, 27-inch version of the iMac, with a cost starting at $1,799, is still on schedule for a December release, according to Apple's news release, but there was no guarantee that it would be out in time for holiday shoppers, which could put a small dent in Apple's quarterly revenues.

Apple has rebounded of late, however, pushing its U.S.-leading market capitalization -- the total value of all shares in a company -- back above $550 billion. Shares dipped slightly Tuesday, losing 0.8 percent to close at $584.78. While the stock has increased 10.8 percent in the past week and a half, it is still 17.1 percent lower than the peak of $705.07 reached on the day of the iPhone 5 launch.

The amount SolarCity aims to raise is less than previously stated -- the company was looking for more than $200 million -- but it would still provide a valuation of about $1.2 billion at the midpoint of the suggested range for IPO shares, which the company's filing states is $13 to $15.

It's a tough time for the solar industry in general -- Solar PV Market Research founder Paula Mints told Mercury News reporter Dana Hull on Tuesday that the industry is "in turmoil." However, most of that turmoil is caused by the sharp drop in prices for solar panels, an issue that benefits SolarCity by bringing its costs down.

"Every solar module seller is desperate to find any possible buyer out there, and module prices are crashing, which benefits Solar City. If Solar City's IPO is even moderately successful, a strong balance sheet could significantly help their leasing business," National Securities alternative energy analyst Ramesh Misra said.

Musk, the PayPal veteran who founded and leads Palo Alto electric-car company Tesla, is the chairman and largest stockholder in SolarCity, which was founded by his cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive. The Rives still run the company -- Lyndon is CEO and Peter is CTO.

Solar panel manufacturers received a boost on Wall Street after the news hit Tuesday, with San Jose's SunPower (SPWRA) rising 5.9 percent and First Solar gaining 3.8 percent.

And the widely watched Standard & Poor's 500 index: Down 7.35, or 0.52 percent, to 1,398.94

Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, a summary of news from Mercury News staff writers, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak.